Last month, you heard the Belize Bus Association rail against Floralia. The executive members were concerned that the new bus company had slipped into their established routes and were taking revenue away from their pockets. While they say they have no problem with competition, they believe that Floralia should be given a bus run that isn't currently being serviced.
But the Minister of Transport doesn't quite agree with that. He believes that the other bus lines should be following Floralia's lead and upgrading their own buses. In a Facebook post, he wrote that he's expecting to see changes by December of this year.
And today, the minister told us that despite what the BBA says, he believes that they should be able to co-exist with Floralia and upgrade their own services in order to compete.
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
"I don't want the Transportation Ministry the same way I found it, I want to see it improve and you're talking about Floralia every time we meet, Floralia is a company that came into the country and they offered transportation services. And when they came in, they said they're going to bring in brand new buses, 2022. And we at the Ministry tried best to accommodate them. We looked at the schedule of buses across the country so it wouldn't affect any run, and we were able to fit them in with some runs from Punta Gorda through Belmopan to Belize City. I think a couple months after, they applied for a run from Dangriga to Belize City and we also facilitated it because there was a void. Despite now we hear that the court has granted them leave to go through the process and I always believe in democracy so whatever the court decide then we have to abide by whoever win the case. But I believe that what we did was try to provide the best transportation service for commuters."
"I am really listening to the operators and I won't box them out of the industry because they are pioneers, I will work with them to figure out how we can find the best solution. But I maintain my position that the buses that we are using across the highways, majority being school buses, 30-40 years old, can't continue under my watch."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you believe that they should be able to coexist?"
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
"We live in a free economy, competition for us to survive is a must. Because if there is no competition, and they have monopoly, then they have total control. So allow the commuter to choose which bus they want to ride."
Courtney Menzies:
"The BBA also says that they don't believe Floralia is Belizean owned but you've met with the co-owners already?"
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
"It doesn't matter to me who owns it. That is not my thing. If they want to go to Central Bank and to FIU to lodge an investigation to find out who own Floralia, that's not my prerogative. But I want to make it clear that I have no one cents in Floralia Bus Company, I'm here to try to improve the transportation industry."
The minister also said that Floralia has applied to the transport board for a run from Benque to Corozal and back, but he wasn't up to date on the status of that request.
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